


What's Mine is Yours

by PermissibleNormality (ForbiddenArcanum)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Emperor!Gabriel, Gabriel is an enormous dick, Goddess!Ladybug, Gods and Goddesses AU, Vessel!Marinette, but what else is new
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-11-07 14:29:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17962343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForbiddenArcanum/pseuds/PermissibleNormality
Summary: The city of Coccinella, which worships the goddess Ladybug, is threatened by the quickly-expanding Agreste Empire. When Ladybug's city is captured by the empire, she must find a way to keep her people safe -- as well as survive.





	What's Mine is Yours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Chat Rouge for helping to proofread and edit this chapter.

Coccinella: a small but bustling port city. What it lacked in population, it made up for in culture and community. So strong was the bond between its citizens that Coccinella refused to be beholden to another’s rule. The cords that held Coccinella together were woven by a spirit from time immemorial: the Lady of Beginnings.

They called her Ladybug, a goddess of generous heart and forgiving mind. Her astounding grace protected the city from any harm, her hands tearing apart tidal waves, her breath blowing away storms, and her song healing the sick. Nonetheless, she led with humility, and her guiding voice never once carried any condescension. For this, she was worshipped -- just as much as she seemed to worship the life that her followers brought to the city.

So fascinated with her people, Ladybug chose not to reign over them as their queen, but to walk among them an equal. Though her temple still stood, and she did not shy away from her grander form when necessary, she sought to celebrate the everyday just as her followers did. Through this, she learned more of humanity: their wants and needs, their capacity for mistakes, and the overwhelming feelings that come with each and every decision.

So moved was she by the experience of being human that she pledged to protect them at any cost. Famine, disease, and drought concerned her not. Any lessons gained from hardship could just as easily be taught with empathy, and it would not do to have her people suffer. And so, she swept away any threat that dared to encroach upon her beloved city.

But for all her power, Ladybug was not omnipotent.

The Agreste clan rose to prominence with alarming speed, tearing through country after country, conquering like an unstoppable plague. Every kingdom that their army touched would rot from the inside out, becoming a husk of its former self. The culture, the legacy, the joy -- it all fell away like it was nothing. Their aggression was as unexpected as it was unrelenting and unparalleled.

Before the conquering began, the Agrestes had flourished in Lepidonia: a kingdom of vast wealth and immense power. Tales of their ascent to the higher echelons of society reached as far as the distant Isle of Tortu, miles off the mainland. The Agrestes were, for a time, a household name in nearly every city. Eventually, the leader of the clan, Gabriel Agreste, was given the throne by the reigning king, who saw him as the only reasonable successor. The king himself did not have an heir, and was much too old to rule any longer.

The transfer of power was hardly noticed, as the Agrestes already had influence over much of Lepidonia’s policies. The kingdom continued to flourish, bolstering its treasury and sowing seeds of joy and hope for its people.

Soon after, something gave way.

The Agrestes and Lepidonia itself were covered by a dark cloud. For days, weeks, and eventually months, the only thing that Lepidonia seemed to export was silence. Their artists no longer came to train in Vulpa, their merchants no longer sought the riches of Abeil, and their apothecaries did not forage for the unique flora of the Blackfoot Swamps. For a time, it seemed as if the bright and shining beacon that was Lepidonia had been snuffed out.

Then, news came from Abeil.

The queen had been taken captive, her lands pillaged, and her cities sieged. What her family had built over a centuries-long monarchy had been torn to shreds in a matter of days. What shocked the kingdoms the most, however, was not the victim, but the perpetrator.  
The Agrestes had resurfaced with a singular and bloody decree: Abeil was now theirs. All of its riches, resources, and royals were now beholden to Gabriel’s rule -- but still, Gabriel was not satisfied.

Whatever the leader of the Agreste clan sought in Abeil, he could not find it. He continued onwards, his army growing with every city captured, like an avalanche of lavender spilling over the hillsides. He seized Vulpa with ease, subdued the people of Blackfoot Swamps, and even managed to conquer the Isle of Tortu -- albeit with great difficulty.

With each land conquered, the black cloud that had hidden the Agrestes became brighter and bolder: a primal and blood-stained feeling of fear that swept across the continent, to the point where it was impossible for someone to be unaware of their conquests. Nothing could satiate Gabriel’s bloodlust, nor quench his desire for more. No scholar could speak with him, no soldier could best him, and no merchant could bribe him. Whatever Gabriel wanted, it did not seem that mortals possessed it.

When he finally came to Coccinella, a small militia of Ladybug’s followers stood guard at the gates. They were eighty strong, wielding naught but homemade swords and shields. When the Agreste clan crested the hill, their banners melded with the twilit sky, and dragged the horizon down deeper into the valley. So dense was their army that upon seeing it with her own eyes, Ladybug told her people to retreat to the safety of their homes. Only she would remain to face them.

Steeled and stone-faced as a mountainside, she waited for Gabriel’s army to breach the gate. When they instead parted to allow their leader passage, her resolve to protect her people only grew stronger. Gazing upon the face of a murderer of thousands, wearing the armor of a kingdom whose name once shone with benevolence and joy, she felt her heart surge.

What she felt, however, could not compare to what anger she would feel but moments later.

“I have come all this way, Ladybug, if only to meet you.” Gabriel looked up at the goddess, her towering form and three white eyes staring back at him. “Come, let us speak in your place of worship. I am certain you would be more comfortable in there.”

Ladybug acquiesced, leading him to the temple, but never once taking her eyes off of him or his army. As she took her seat, floating on a wispy cloud just above a brilliant marble altar, Gabriel began again.

“Tell me, Ladybug, what domains do you preside over?”

“Beginnings.” She spoke plainly, her voice booming through the temple and scattering across the floor like bells. “Creation. Life. Doorways. Footsteps.” She turned her gaze towards the glass roof, fixing her sight on the stars above them both. “I have been here since the world began, and I will remain here until it ends -- Until there are no beginnings left to have.”

“Wonderful,” Gabriel said, smiling. His voice dripped with something sinister and vile, so much so that even Ladybug felt her stomach turn. “Then you would assist me in beginning this newest mission of mine. I seek your powers of life, to have control over it completely, with no questions or conditions to my judgement.”

It was all Ladybug could do not to laugh.

“Come now,” Gabriel implored. “This may well be the first time that… what was it? The first time that Conchanella has come to bear swords against another, but even you must understand I am quite serious. You would grant me this boon, and I would leave your precious city to do with as you will.”

“The people of Coccinella are creators,” Ladybug began. Gabriel tried to interrupt.

“That isn’t any of my --”

“Creators of art, music, love, culture, language, history… they are boundless beginnings. Each of them are infinite possibilities in mortal form. They are those I would grant a boon to.”

“And not I? I have created this vast army, created a grander purpose for myself and others, and created an entire empire on which the sun shall never set.”

“And with what you have created, you have tarnished all you have touched. Your filth, your arrogance, and your hubris -- it is spread upon this land as a plague. Many a death will I die before I see you fit to hold any of my gifts with your own two hands.”

“I see,” Gabriel said, his self-assured smile turning to a sneer -- but Ladybug did not waver, and did not even look at him as silence overtook their negotiations. “I shall take Coccinella, then.”

“Another thing to be destroyed, I presume,” Ladybug said softly.

“Quite the opposite, Ladybug.” Gabriel turned on his heel, stepping towards the grand doors of the temple, stopping just short of them. He glanced over his shoulder. “You have my word that I shall never raise a hand against you -- but I also promise you that this is not the end.”

A cascade of lilac soldiers followed him out of the temple, the doors slamming shut behind them. Ladybug closed her eyes, lowering her head. Despite everything, a small smile graced her lips.

“It is just the beginning, then.”


End file.
